Thursday, July 17, 2008

Shhhh…do you hear that?

It’s the sweet sound of football season, lurking just around the corner.

The Auburn football team is tentatively scheduled to start preseason practice Aug. 2—or, if you’d like to think of it another way, two weeks from Saturday.

SEC Media Days—the unofficial start of the football preseason—is even closer. Media Days start in Hoover next Wednesday; Tommy Tuberville appears on Friday, alongside head coaches Steve Spurrier of South Carolina, Rich Brooks of Kentucky and Bobby Petrino of Arkansas. And Tuberville won’t be there alone: He’ll be joined by senior center Jason Bosley and junior defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks.

I spoke to Sen’Derrick today about his trip to Birmingham, and it’s obvious he’s looking forward to it. I’ll have a story in next Wednesday’s Opelika-Auburn News about his plans for Media Days—along with a few other things to watch for—but here are a few tidbits:

--He’s looking forward to the Media Days mob scene, which always features hundreds of print and Internet reporters and an equal number of television cameras and radio microphones. But he’s not totally sure what he’ll say, especially to the off-the-wall questions that are a Media Days staple. “I’ll come up with something,” he said with a laugh. “It doesn’t have to make sense, right?”

--He’s not sure what he’ll wear to the event, which is a big decision. Media Days is an opportunity for a lot of players to show off the finer points of their wardrobes. Former Auburn safety Junior Rosegreen wore a dark purple suit to Media Days in 2004; in 2006, Marcus McNeill joked that his cream-and-orange pinstripe number was made from Tuberville’s tablecloth. But one thing’s for sure: Sen’Derrick will have to go shopping. At the moment, he doesn’t own a suit.

--He and his teammates are already excited about the opening of the 2008 season. One big difference, according to Sen’Derrick, has been the attitude in offseason workouts. In seasons past, “voluntary” weightlifting sessions didn’t have great attendance, and players often skipped makeup sessions after missing a workout or two. This offseason, Sen’Derrick says, the attendance has been almost perfect. Credit for that, I suppose, belongs to strength coach Kevin Yoxall, as well as new coordinators Tony Franklin and Paul Rhoads.